


Hands Across America

by Cheriluvs10



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-16 01:16:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2250450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheriluvs10/pseuds/Cheriluvs10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Multiple Doctors and companions. On May 25th, 1986, people came together to form a human chain across the US for a good cause. The Doctors decide to participate and bring their companions with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Now what is this again?" Clara said to Twelve while she stood beside him at the console.

"Hands Across America," Twelve said to her.

"Never heard of it," Clara said with a frown.

"It was a chartable event that took place on May 25, 1986 that took place all across America. People came together to form a human chain from New York to California to help fight hunger and homelessness."

"How does forming a human chain help fight hunger?" Clara said.

"Well, obviously some people donated money and others paid ten dollars to reserve a spot in the queue," the Doctor said a bit condescendingly.

"And this is what we're doing today," Clara said. "Standing by some random people and holding their hands for hunger in the middle of nowhere."

"It's a historical event and it's for a good cause, Clara."

"Yeah, but…you have no money so we're just going to stand there and say we stood there?" Clara said.

"I donated money," the Doctor said.

"Really, how?"

"I have my ways," the Doctor said evasively as he sat the coordinates on his console.

"What? Illegal ways?" Clara said.

Twelve said nothing and Clara shrugged.

"Just as long as I don't end up holding hands with a Dalek or a Cyberman," Clara said as the Doctor changed course.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Long Beach, California…)

"Ah, here we are," the Doctor said as he and Clara emerged from the TARDIS. "The end of the chain."

The TARDIS was parked about a hundred feet away from a huge steamship that was anchored sideways to a dock. Clara looked at the front of the ship and read its name.

"RMS Queen Mary," she said, glancing at the Doctor.

"That's right; we're in Long Beach, California. And that is the end of the queue," he said, pointing to a line of people standing near the ship.

"So how long do we have to stand in this queue," Clara asked as she followed the Doctor.

"Fifteen minutes. At noon, they will play the Hands Across America song and we all hold hands and see if we can form a human chain across the US."

"Whee," Clara said dryly, thinking that picking out socks would be more interesting than this.

The queue consisted of people off all ages, races and both genders. There was even one bleach blonde woman standing there with a white poodle on a red leash. The Doctor checked in with the organizers while Clara waited and told him they had a spot reserved for two. He gave their names and a young man checked his list and nodded. He pointed to the line and told them to get in their places because it was almost about to begin. To Clara's surprise, they went to the very end of the line near the ship. The Doctor noticed that Clara was staring at the man at the end, an old hippie with long scraggly hair; beard and a tie dyed t-shirt and noticed her distaste. He sighed, shook his head and stood next to the man, allowing her to stand beside him at the very end. Clara looked over at the massive ship and studied it while she waited for the event to start. It was resting in the Pacific Ocean and the water was gently sloshing up against it, making a soothing rhythmic sound. Clara looked around at the palm trees and then focused on a water taxi that was slowly motoring by the boat.

"Just think, my tenth and eleventh selves are in this queue at this very moment."

Clara jerked her head around when she heard the Doctor say that.

"Huh? They are? Where?" she said, looking at the queue.

"Not here. My tenth self is in New York and my eleventh self is in Indianapolis. They're at the beginning and middle and now I'm at the end. And don't get any ideas," he added when he saw Clara's hopeful look. "We can't go see him in Indianapolis. I don't want a paradox on my hands. Just enjoy the day with me, Clara."

Clara nodded. She ached to see her old Doctor but she knew better than to bully him into taking her. To her surprise, however, the Doctor began giggling to himself.

"What's so funny?" Clara said to him.

"It's raining in Indianapolis today and I'm out in it with Amy, Rory and River, standing there, getting wet as we speak."

"And you're happy about that?" Clara said.

"I am now because now it's not me," Twelve said. "I was miserable that day but not today, today is nice, sunny and filled with Disney characters."

Clara frowned and Twelve pointed outwards with his chin. She turned her head and her eyes bulged when people dressed at Mickey Mouse and Goofy walked towards her. "Mickey" walked up to Clara, waved silently and pointed to her free hand.

"Oh! Um…yeah, you can hold it," Clara said while the Doctor chuckled.

Mickey patted her on the head and took her hand while Goofy stood on his other side and took his.

"Is it more fun now, Clara?" Twelve asked her.

"Not by much but it definitely lightens the mood when Mickey Mouse is standing beside ya," Clara said.

"Okay, everyone, we're one minute away from holding hands and forming our human chain," the man with the list said as he yelled into a loudhailer. "When I give the signal, everyone hold hands and keep on holding hands for fifteen minutes! We'd like to thank everyone for participating today and let's all keep working to end poverty and homelessness. Okay, everyone ready…ten, nine, eight…"

Everyone counted down with the man and when he got to one, everyone grabbed everyone's hand and held it while the Hands Across America song played from a speaker mounted at the top of the ship. Some people were singing along with it but since Clara didn't know it, she remained silent and listened. To her, it sounded like a cheesy 80's pop song but it was for a good cause so she didn't say anything. However, Mickey's gloved hand was making her own hand sweat and she hoped that the fifteen minutes would end soon so she and the Doctor could go back to the TARDIS and go on more interesting adventures.

She looked up at the Doctor and noticed he was still giggling. She figured he was still tickled about his other self being wet in Indianapolis which was odd to her since it was him relieving his own memories. Still, the fact that there was no creatures around other than Mickey and Goofy made it a pleasant day and she squeezed the Doctor's hand and smiled when he squeezed back.

(Meanwhile, in New York…)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

(George Washington Bridge, New York City…)

The Tenth Doctor breathed in the morning air as he and Rose walked towards the George Washington Bridge. He had explained to Rose what was going on and like Clara, Rose was a bit dubious about standing in line and holding hands with strangers.

"But it's for a good cause, Rose," the Doctor said. "Besides, I gave them twenty dollars to reserve a spot in the queue towards the beginning of the chain so we can anchor it."

"Sounds a bit dodgy to me," Rose said.

"In what way is it dodgy?"

"Really? They really managed to make an unbreakable human chain from the east to the west coast?"

"Well, no," the Doctor admitted. "There were gaps from time to time but that's not the point. The point is humanity came together to do something for their fellow man."

"Yeah, they held hands."

"And donated," the Doctor said, annoyed at her indifference. "I donated twenty dollars in our name."

"And will that twenty dollars go to the people that really need it or will it be lining some rich person's pocket?"

"Oh ye of little faith, Rose Tyler," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

"All I'm saying is I never heard of this before so it must not be an annual thing like Children in Need."

"It doesn't have to be an annual thing…look, just enjoy the day and the fact that we're together, alright? Don't let your cynicism spoil the mood, yeah?"

Rose nodded and apologized. They held hands as they stepped onto the bridge. By now, a queue was forming and Rose noticed a few of the participants looked sloshed to the point they probably wouldn't remember being part of the chain. She also noticed several people standing apart from the chain, all of them dressed in black suits with white shirts, black ties and shades over their eyes. There were two women with the group and even they were dressed like this. One man, who was young but grizzled looking, held something in his hand that looked like a Geiger counter and he was scanning the area. As they passed by them, the man turned and aimed the Geiger counter at them and suddenly the box let out a high pitched beeping sound that hadn't been there before. The man stared at them as they walked by and was still staring when Rose looked back over her shoulder at them. She was about to ask the Doctor who they were when he suddenly got her attention and pointed to Liza Minnelli who was near the front of the queue with Brooke Shields, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines and Yoko Ono among others. They were anchoring the line and Rose and the Doctor were standing fifteen people down from them. They were let into the queue and Rose stood next to the Doctor while they waited. The Doctor checked his watch.

"Nearly time," he said to her. "They start here at three and then we hold hands for fifteen minutes."

Rose nodded. The Doctor looked out over the river while Rose looked back at the men in black. She was shocked when she noticed that the grizzled man was now walking towards them with another older man. For a moment, she thought they were going to pass them and head for the celebrities but they walked right up to the Doctor, startling him.

"My I see your license, son" the grizzled man said to him.

Rose glanced at the Doctor and noticed he was completely flummoxed by the request.

"My license" he said to him.

"Yes, your license, show me your license," the man said as the older man stood behind him and watched.

The Doctor glanced at Rose, pulled out his psychic paper and flipped it open, holding it up in front of the man's face. The man snorted.

"Now let me see your REAL license," he said.

"I'm sorry, who are you" the Doctor said.

"Agent K and that's all you need to know, son. Now show me the license you were issued when you first came to Earth."

The Doctor stared at him in silent shock. He looked at himself, thinking something was giving away the fact that he was an alien to these people. Meanwhile, Rose had a revelation.

"Wait, aren't you those men in black people the nutters talk about on UFO sites?" Rose said.

In response, K held up his Geiger counter to her but it didn't beep. He then aimed it at the Doctor and it beeped loudly.

"She's human, he's not," K said to the other man.

"Look, creepy Man In Black Bloke," the Doctor said, holding up his hands. "What license am I supposed to have?"

"All aliens must be registered downtown with customs and receive their license if they're going to stay on Earth," K said to him. "The license proves you are registered and in our database, making you legal. If you are not legal, we will assume you are a threat to planet Earth and we will kill you with extreme prejudice."

Rose looked around and noticed the people near them were now listening intently to their conversation.

"Look, my friend and I are…not aliens," he said, glancing at the people around him. "You are a nutter and you're disturbing us. Now leave us alone before I go get a REAL person in charge."

K was about to say something back when his partner grabbed his shoulder.

"No, leave them alone, it's starting," he said to K as he pointed to the event organizers coming up to the front of the queue.

K sighed and looked at the Doctor.

"Fine, you and your…abductee here enjoy the festivities and after that, you have three hours to leave New York before the…nutters come after you and believe me, you won't like it if we have to come and get you."

"Fine, fine, go away," the Doctor said to him, waving his hand dismissively.

In response, K pulled a long silver object out of his pocket and adjusted some dials on the back of it.

"Is that a sonic screwdriver?" Rose said to the Doctor.

The Doctor was about to answer when K's partner suddenly jerked the Doctor out of the queue. The Doctor tried to fight him but the man's grip was strong. He looked back and noticed K was holding his device up to everyone in the line and asking them to look at it. Then there was an enormous flash and Rose and everyone else got blank looks on their faces.

"You folks are here to enjoy the Hands Across America thing, so enjoy it and have a fun day," K said before walking away.

K's partner let go of the Doctor and he walked back to the queue while everyone in the line blinked and shook their heads as if recovering from a stupor.

"That's that, I hope," the Doctor said, standing beside Rose.

"What's what?" Rose said.

"Them, that lot over there, the ones that bothered us," the Doctor said to Rose.

Rose looked at the men in black and looked at the Doctor.

"Who are they?" she said.

"Who are they? They're the ones that just manhandled me and did some flashy thing to you."

"They did? When was that?" Rose said, confused.

Then it suddenly dawned on the Doctor what K was doing to the crowd. Enraged, he looked over where the men in black were standing, hoping to go and thump them into unconsciousness. But to his surprise, they were nowhere to be seen. He looked all around for them and then with a sigh and a mental note to check Rose out in the med bay, gave up and took Rose's hand as the fifteen minute interval began.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

(Indianapolis, Indiana…)

"Ugh, I don't wanna be heeeere!" Amy said as she stepped outside the TARDIS with Eleven, Rory and River.

The Doctor sighed and turned to look at his obstinate companion.

"What's wrong now?" he said to her.

"Look at this!" Amy said, pointing to a tall brick building nearby. "What is this? Where are we?"

"We are in Indianapolis, Indiana on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis or IUPUI for short. We are waiting to stand in line and hold hands for charity. That is where we are and what this is, Pond."

"And there's nothing better to do today besides hold hands in Indiana?" Amy said to him.

She noticed the Doctor looked a bit evasive and she raised her eyebrow.

"What are you not telling us?" she said to him.

"Well…today is also the running of the Indianapolis 500," the Doctor said.

"Racing?" Amy said. "We could be going to a race and you have us standing outside holding hands with random people."

"Amy, come on, just have fun with it," Rory said, putting his hand on her arm.

"You're telling me you'd rather do this than go to the Indianapolis 500," Amy said to him.

"Well…no, but look, we're in a time machine, we can do this and come back and see the race," Rory said.

"Exactly, we can do both and right now, we are doing this one. So everyone get into the spirit and…"

The Doctor trailed off when River took his hand and squeezed it.

"Why wait for the queue when we can hold hands right now, Sweetie," River purred in the Doctor's ear.

Amy snickered with the Doctor turned beet red at that and put his free hand over his crotch while River nuzzled his ear. While they were doing that, Rory looked around.

"So…where is the rest of the queue?" Rory said.

"Yeah and anyone else notice how the dark the clouds are and how there's no sun?" Amy said, pointing up to the sky.

"All I notice is your cute little bum," River whispered in the Doctor's ear.

"Right!" the Doctor said, quickly pulling away from his wife before his boner split his trousers. "Um…" he said, checking his watch, "we are a bit early. It's supposed to start at two PM and now it's just half eleven. Be a bit of a wait, I'm afraid."

"Fine, let's go to the race then," Amy said.

"Or…we can marvel at the university and see its wonders," the Doctor said.

Amy turned and looked at the brick building in front of her.

"Yeah, that's nice," she said quickly. "So…done marveling then, let's go to the race."

"Rory, you do realize your wife acts like a nine year old at times, yeah?" the Doctor said to him.

"I do realize that but I've known her far longer than you and I'm used to it," Rory said.

"Doctor, please, let's do something…did you just feel that?" Amy said when a drop of water hit her face.

"Pond, life is not all about roller coasters and things that go vroom, sometimes we need to participate in life changing events that are a bit quieter and…"

The Doctor trailed off when he felt a drop of rain on his face.

"Um…I think it's going to rain," Rory said, glancing up at the darkening sky.

"Still wanna stand in a queue, honey?" River said as rain droplets came down faster.

"What's this?" the Doctor said, looking up at the sky with shock.

"I…think it's called rain, honey," River said patronizingly.

"Yes but…it didn't rain in New York when I was there with Rose," Eleven said.

"And how far away is New York, Doctor?" Amy said. "Doesn't mean it won't rain here if it didn't rain in New York, yeah?"

"Wait, are you telling us that you have once again failed to check out the place you were headed to," Rory said to the Doctor. "Didn't we learn this lesson on Apalapachia?"

"And I told you then that wasn't how I did things and you threatened to leave and you didn't so apparently you're okay with how I do things," the Doctor said to him. "A little rain won't hurt you lot. Come on, have some fun and…"

He trailed off again when the rain came down hard. River raised her eyebrow when he sprinted towards the TARDIS.

"What was that, love?" she yelled, putting her hand to her ear. "A little rain won't hurt us and we should…"

"Oh shut up, Song!" the Doctor yelled over his shoulder as he fished his TARDIS key out of his pocket.

He opened the door and stepped aside as everyone else rushed inside.

"Now, can we go to the race, Doctor?" Amy said, slightly shivering from the cold rain while the Doctor closed the door.

"Well, my guess is since the race takes place outdoors and it is raining at the moment and they don't want the cars sliding off the track, hurtling through the air and landing on the spectators, they probably are postponing the race until further notice. So the answer is no, we can't go to the race until there's a race to go to," the Doctor said, walking up to the console.

"Let's go somewhere else then. Miami would be nice after the unintentional cold shower, courtesy of you and your let's be bloody minded and not check things out way of doing things," Rory said.

"I have an idea," the Doctor said, holding up his finger.

"We're going to Miami?" Amy said.

"No," the Doctor said, pointing the finger at Amy, "we are jumping ahead to the time of the event. This is probably just a brief downpour, nothing to worry about."

"He thinks," River said to her parents.

"Ugh! You're right, Rory. The man is bloody minded," Amy said as the Doctor fiddled with the controls on the TARDIS.

The TARDIS came to life and for a few seconds the interior shook as the rotor went up and down. Then the TARDIS powered down and the Doctor grinned as he sped down the steps to the door.

"Aha, now we'll have a good d…oh bugger," he said when he opened the door and noticed it was still raining heavily.

"Oh look, hasn't stopped raining yet, guess you're not as good as you thought when it came to predicting the weather," Amy said sarcastically to him.

"In his defense, there are people standing in the queue now," River said, pointing to a line about fifty feet from the door.

The people nearest the TARDIS were looking at it in shock and the Doctor knew that they had watched him land in front of them. He looked at his family for a moment before sprinting outside.

"Thank you, thank you, everyone! I hope you enjoyed my magic trick in honor of this momentous occasion!" he said as rain poured down on him.

"You gonna go out there and join him?" Rory asked his wife.

"Nope," Amy said as the three of them stood at the door and watched him.

The Doctor turned around and beckoned to them as rain dripped off his hair and onto his clothes.

"No thanks, nice and warm here," Amy said to the others.

"Well, I'm getting in the spirit of things, Mother," River said before stepping outside.

"There she is, everyone, my beautiful wife," the Doctor said, pointing to River as she walked towards him. "Give her a round of applause."

The people in the queue applauded and the Doctor and River took a bow. Then they joined the queue and stood together, holding hands in the rain. Amy noticed the Doctor was giving her and Rory a pointed look while they stood there.

"Eh, what the hell," Rory said with a shrug before walking outside.

The crowd applauded and cheered and the Doctor grinned when Rory bowed and pumped his fist in the air, whooping it up and getting the others revved up. He joined the queue, holding River's hand while all of them looked right at Amy.

"Come on, you lot, let's get Amy out here!" the Doctor yelled, pointing at the TARDIS.

Amy chuckled when the Doctor got the crowd to chant her name. By now, him and everyone else were completely soaked through but they still called to her and Amy shrugged.

"Eh, if I get pneumonia, the Doctor can cure me," she said before she stepped outside and shut the doors to the sound of the crowd cheering.

She turned and laughed as the Doctor got everyone to pump their fists in the air and whoop and he held out his hand to her.

"Glad you could make it to the party, Pond," he said as Amy took her hand.

"Yeah, well…gotta keep an eye on you lot," Amy said with a grin.

The Doctor grinned back, squeezed her hand and everyone turned their attention to the organizers as they stepped up to start the festivities.

THE END.


End file.
